Era of Chinese Renaissance

(Education market potential in China)

One will either move forward or backward against the stream

It has taken the West 2,000 years to transform itself from an agricultural society to an industrial one and less than 300 years to go from an industrial to service economy. Now, with the rapid advent of high technology, it is entering the knowledge economy.

As a result, China finds itself in a ruthless race. Without a solid educational foundation, it will face grave difficulties in achieving high value-added growth, never mind challenging Europe, America and Japan in future. Due to the developing gap between China and the West, the market potential for education emerges. There is urgency for China to push herself to narrow the gap.

As China moves towards a modestly prosperous society, we see the emergence of a huge middle class in cities along the coast of China. These middle class Chinese will be a driving force for a Chinese Renaissance. They will lead and guide China's economic, social and cultural development. A conservative estimate is that there are already more than 100 million of them in China, mainly located in the Pearl River Delta, Yangzi River Delta and the region adjacent to the Gulf of Po Hai.

When Beijing hosts the Olympic in 2008, her GNP per capita will reach US$ 6,000 while Shanghai's will be US$7,500. Competition among rich regions in China, plus the opening up of Northwest, Northeast, and Southwest, will mean a surge in demand for better quality learning and education opportunities. Different regions and different stages of economic development in China will create different types of education and training needs.

History has brought us the opportunity. According to Chinese education officials, only 14% of the same age cohorts can get into local universities. The high economic growth also leads to a shortage of training opportunities in skill and professional upgrading. In addition, after joining WTO, China will need to produce a large pool of administrators, foreign language professionals, trading, finance, economic, logistics, and real estate managers.

The emergence of a huge Chinese middle class, the march towards a a modestly prosperous society in which people have an insatiable thirst for knowledge and skills will create a market of US$ 85 billion for providers of education, skill training and consultancy services.

We at Darwin Education Group look forward to the coming of the Chinese Renaissance and to contributing to the Chinese education market.